


Cat Food

by tonys



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alpine Plays Matchmaker, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:49:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24069907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonys/pseuds/tonys
Summary: In which Tony finds a strange, white cat on his fire escape.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 16
Kudos: 207





	Cat Food

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god if you can come up with a better title, please tell me. I cannot title things to save my life.
> 
> Also, I did this before it was revealed that Alpine was a girl. I tried to change all the pronouns and such to reflect that, but it's entirely possible that I may have missed some. Tell me if I do! Thank you!

Tony sips on his morning coffee, sighing in contentment as his eyes slip closed. His TV is on in the background, the news anchor talking about an altercation that happened at the bodega right around the corner. He supposes he should be listening, but after only getting 2 hours of sleep and being expected to be coherent at work today? Yeah, no, he's lucky that he was able to make it out of his bedroom without falling flat on his face.

He vaguely registers a meow and a scratching noise from somewhere behind him, but chalks it up to a few cats in the alley below getting into a little tussle. Then the meowing and scratching comes again. And again. And again. And then he realizes that it's coming from his _window_.

He turns around and comes face to face with a pure white cat, their big round eyes staring at him as their tail comes up behind them, hooking at the tip. With his free hand, he rubs at one of his eyes. Surely he must just be seeing things; surely that must just be the sleep still clouding his vision, because there is a _cat_ outside his _window_ , sitting on his _fire escape_ , and looking at him like an orphan looks through the window of a family having Christmas dinner in those cheesy holiday movies.

Hm. Maybe that comparison is a bit too on the nose.

As it turns out, the cat is not a figment of his imagination, and they _really_ want to get in judging by the way they scratch at his window again (and their toes are so pink that it almost makes him squeal. Almost).

He pads over to his window and opens it up, letting the cat jump down onto his floor and curl around his legs, purring up a storm. "Hey, little fella," he greets sleepily as he closes the window. No need for another cat to come running in. Or bugs.

Now that he thinks about it, he probably shouldn't be letting strange cats into his apartment, but screw it. Again, 2 hours. He walks over to the sink, the cat trotting besides him, and quickly chugs down the rest of his coffee before placing his mug into the basin. "You got an owner, buddy?" he asks as he squats down, scratching the cat behind their ears.

They lean into his touch and the gleam of their nametag catches his attention. He holds the tag in between his thumb and forefinger. It's a bit worn, so he has to hold it at a slight angle to read it.

**ALPINE**   
**IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL (917) 555-0145**

Thank God that the owner at least appears to live within NYC and not... _Jersey_ or anything. "Alpine, huh?" He gives the cat one more scratch behind the ears. "Nice name for a nice kitty. You're a nice kitty, aren't you?" he coos.

His cheeks flush once he realizes that he's talking to a _cat_. Whatever, at least Rhodey and/or Pepper aren't there to see it, otherwise he would never live it down. "I gotta call your owner, champ. Can't imagine what they're thinking right now. Maybe you aren't such a nice kitty."

It could just be his imagination, but he could've sworn that the cat seemed to deflate at his scolding.

He gets up, wincing when his knees pop. He grasps at his cell phone sitting on the counter (how else would he read whatever kind of shit that the Kardashians got into while he's waiting for his coffee to brew?) and punches in the number on Alpine's tag.

(Alpine goes back to curling around Tony's legs and he finds it rather adorable, thank you very much.)

His call is answered on the 2nd ring. "James Barnes—" and that's the only thing Tony hears before he spaces out and only focuses on the way that this so-called James' voice sounds like... velvet, or honey, or chocolate, or any of those other descriptors in those romance novels Pepper is so fond of reading. He will continue to blame those thoughts on his caffeine-addled and sleep-deprived brain.

"Hello?" James speaks, confusion tinging his voice.

Tony shakes his head, remembering why he called in the first place. "Hi, I'm Tony. Your cat is, uh, in my apartment. I live in Van Dyne Towers, and—"

"Let me guess: apartment 4131?"

"Uh," Tony replies. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, I just—" James cuts himself off with a sigh the other end of the line— "I used to have a friend who lived in that apartment, and Alpine liked him a lot, so I'm guessin' that she sorta started developin' an attachment to _anyone_ who lived in that apartment. Same happened with the past guy that lived there, but I gotta say that I'm likin' you a lot better."

Tony swallows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Least you're not yellin' at me about my 'stupid cat'," James scoffs.

"Alpine is far from stupid." Tony looks down at the comfortable cat around his legs. "Aren't you, Alpine?"

James laughs. "I'm glad to hear it. Listen, I'm in the apartment above you. I'm also guessin' that you let Alpine in through the fire escape, 'cause that's what my friend did before. I'll just go down that way too, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tony says. "Sure." Well. There goes his plans of making himself look presentable. Instead, he's gonna have to greet Alpine's owner with his ruffled hair and boxers that have flamingos on them.

It could be worse.

It could be the galaxy cat boxers.

"Alright, Tony. See you in, like, 5 seconds." James hangs up and, right on time, Tony hears clanging outside his window as (presumably) James clambers down the stairs of the fire escape.

Then there's James, standing outside of his window with his knees slightly bent, and _holy hell_. There is no legal reason for anyone to look that good in what seems to be just black sweatpants and some t-shirt advertising an obscure local band. Also: a man-bun. _No one_ should look good in that, and yet—

James knocks on his window. "Tony."

He really needs to stop spacing out.

He opens his window again, leaving his phone behind, with Alpine trailing behind him. James squeezes through and, _wow_ , he's tall. Taller than Tony, at least. "Sorry about Alpine," he says, and Tony could probably melt under those blue eyes. "She can be a handful. Can't you, Alpine?"

Alpine meows before jumping up into James' arms.

James idly scratches underneath Alpine's jaw with a finger. "She's probably gonna be visitin' you any chance he gets. I try to keep my window closed as much as possible, but sometimes if I'm cookin' or if it just gets real stuffy, I gotta open it. Uh, if you don't wanna deal with her, I think if you ignore her long enough she'll just come back up."

"I don't want to ignore her," Tony blurts out. Judging by James' wide eyes, he's rather shocked at Tony's answer. It makes Tony's heart hurt, really, thinking about the other people who must've dismissed Alpine once the novelty wore off—or never liked Alpine to begin with. "I mean, she's a cute cat, and I was never allowed any pets of my own."

Alpine twists in James' arms to stare at Tony intently, eyes slowly closing once Tony's hand joins James' in pampering her with pets and scratches. "What kind of meat does she like?" Tony asks. If Alpine's gonna be coming down to visit him, he might as well make those visits worthwhile.

"This li'l girl _loves_ turkey," James chuckles, bouncing Alpine up and down in his arms. "Seriously, I think her favorite holiday is Thanksgivin'. Dark meat's alright, but don't give her a lot. It's gotta be mostly white meat, 'less you want her gettin' a bit chunky."

The corner of Tony's lips curl up. "You don't think she'd be cute chunky?"

James solemnly shakes his head. "She was a _huge_ cat once, and gettin' her to lose weight was hard. I'd rather not have to go through that again."

Tony grimaces. "Sorry, bad joke." Way to stick your foot in your mouth, Stark. "Anyway, you've got Alpine back, and I don't mean to kick you out, but I need to get ready for work soon, so, um..."

"I'll see you whenever I gotta pick up Alpine again." James smiles and bows his head politely. He shifts Alpine so that she's riding on his shoulders and opens the window back up, working his way back through it. "Bye, Tony!" he says, poking his head back in before he closes the window behind him.

Tony goes back to pick up his phone. He needs to talk to Rhodey about this.

* * *

Some song by some popular boy band blasts from Tony's phone and he finds himself humming along as he flips the bacon slices in his pan. It's been a few weeks since he's first met Alpine and, by extension, James. Alpine's come to visit a few more times since their initial meeting, but she's always made her way back up before James has decided to come down to look for his cat.

And James is certainly attractive and he seems nice enough, which means that he's probably a secret serial killer or something.

Maybe he could learn to stop being so cynical.

He hears a piercing meow behind him, and he almost falls in a way that would've brought the pan down with him. "Alpine," he groans exasperatedly as he turns around.

Alpine walks over to him, going up on her hind legs and placing her front paws against Tony's thigh, meowing once more.

"Does James not feed you?" Tony tuts, reaching for his phone on the counter next to him to look up if bacon is indeed good for cats to consume. He's halfway through cutting the bacon into tiny, bite-sized pieces when James comes crawling through his window again.

"Alpine!" James reprimands, frowning as Alpine moves to sit in between Tony's legs. "Sorry, I—I turned my back to open her food and she just _slipped_ right outta there. Probably smelled what you were cookin'."

Tony winces even though he knows he's not responsible for Alpine's actions. "Sorry."

"No, no." James waves his hand. "S'not your fault." He squats, stretching out his arms and beckoning Alpine to come over. "Alpine, c'mon, we gotta leave Tony to his cookin'."

Alpine does not move.

"Alpy." James pouts, and it really shouldn't be as cute as it is. "That food was expensive. C'mon. It has chicken."

Alpine continues to sit still.

"Okay." James gets up and dusts off the front of his sweatpants. "Would you mind if I just brought the food down here? I don't think I'd be able t'coax her back up."

"Go. I don't think she's going to move much either."

James mutter something under his breath about how Alpine is so dumb—but he loves her anyway—before going back outside the window.

Tony looks at the cat in between his legs. "You're a little troublemaker, aren't you?"

Alpine meows in response.

James comes back with an open can of cat food and a paper towel. He places the towel down on the floor first, then puts the can on top of it. "Do you think you can just... walk her over?"

"Of course. Also, um, would it be fine if I put some of the bacon in her food?"

"You know, she'd probably like that." James places his hands on his hips and Tony's throat goes dry. Somehow, that pose manages to up his attractiveness. Somehow. "I mean, it was part of the reason why she came down here in the first place."

"Just part?"

"You're down here." James gestures at Tony. "If I was a cat, I'd be comin' down to the pretty neighbor with all the turkey I could eat too."

As Tony walks Alpine over to the can of food, flakes of bacon in his hand, he tries to not fixate on the fact that James just called him _pretty_.

* * *

Alpine jumps into Tony's lap and meows twice before jumping back off and trotting away a few paces. She looks back at Tony and meows again, tail curled against the side of her body.

"You want me to follow you?" Tony switches off the TV and gets up.

Alpine goes on for a few more steps before turning and meowing once more.

As Tony and Alpine walk on, Alpine continues to look behind her just to make sure that Tony is following her. She walks through Tony's open window and goes up the stairs to James' apartment.

Now there, Tony is unsure if he can follow her _there_. This entire thing has been going on for a nearly a few months now, but he's never actually had a reason to set foot into James' apartment. "James!" he calls as he looks up, using a hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

James' head pops out, looking down at him. "Tony?"

"Alpine wanted me to follow her, but she, uh, went into your apartment. Would it be fine if I came up, or...?" Sure, right now Tony's not wearing anything more than a tank top and one of Rhodey's old pajama pants, but it's not like James dresses up when he comes into his apartment either.

James' head disappears from view for a second and Tony can hear his voice, although he can't quite make out what he's saying, but he suspects that he's just talking to Alpine. Then, he comes back into view. "Yeah. It's a damn mess up in here though, just warnin' you."

"Please," Tony snorts. "I guarantee you that my bedroom is worse than any mess that you can create."

James laughs, and Tony could listen to that all day. "If you say so. Now come up. It's Saturday, it's hot, let's eat some ice cream."

"It's also only 9 A.M."

"Aw, doll, it's never too early for some ice cream." James waggles a spoon at him. Where he got that spoon without even leaving the window, Tony doesn't know, but he does know that he's smiling the entire time that he goes up the stairs.

James meets him as he comes through the window with a pint of Ben & Jerry's. "This is my favorite flavor," James says as he hands him the pint along with the spoon that he waggled in the window. He holds up another spoon, this one decorated with a red star at the bottom. "Hope you don't mind if we share."

"I don't mind," Tony replies possibly a bit too quickly. His cheeks burn. "We can share. I've never actually had this flavor before."

"Oh, that's blasphemy," James jokes and Tony smiles along with him, "but I'm glad I can introduce you to the wonders of Cherry Garcia in the mornin'. C'mon, let's go on the couch. I'm watchin' MasterChef."

"Heresy. Great British Bake Off is superior."

James grins. "Well, if that's what you want to watch."

* * *

Tony's window hasn't even been open for more than 10 seconds before Alpine comes slinking through, crowding up next to him to ask for pets and purring gently.

"A bit needy today, aren't we?" Tony murmurs, running his hand down Alpine's back.

Alpine seems to meow in agreement.

He hears a knock on his window frame and turns to see James with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Hey, Tony," James says with a sort of tenderness that's almost enough to send shivers down Tony's spine. "I just wanted to thank you for, you know, not throwin' Alpine out of your window or anythin'. And for bein' a friend too." They _have_ been hanging out more often lately, most of the time without Alpine needing to be the one who instigates any sort of interaction. Hell, they've also been migrating from lounging around at each other's apartments to actually going out and walking around the neighborhood, stopping in a café or two or soaking up the sun in Pym Park. Tony would like to call them dates, but, well... he's hesitant. He doesn't know if James likes him in that way, and plus, it's still likely that James isn't even into other guys (which would be a damn shame, but Tony respects that).

James steps through and offers him the cup of coffee. He gets up and accepts it without thinking twice. Alpine doesn't seem to mind much that her source of pets is gone, instead going to rub her face against Tony's legs.

"I'll be honest, I sorta agonized over the entire damn cup," James says, sounding sheepish. "I wanted to get the best for you, you know? But I'm more of a tea guy myself, so I had to ask my friend—who's a damn _coffee fiend_ , mind you, and the one who lived in your apartment before—what he'd recommend, and I... yeah. I'm makin' this sound like I'm buyin' you a ring or somethin', but it's just coffee—"

"James," Tony interrupts, an amused yet fond look on his face. "It's fine. Anything you give me will be great because, well, it's from you. I know it sounds cheesy, but really. It's the thought that counts." With that, he takes a sip and lets out a surprised-but-also-pleased noise. "Okay, wait. Holy shit, that's _good_ ," he says once the cup is away from his lips.

James perks up. "Really?" Alpine shares in James' excitement by darting over to James' side and swirling around his legs.

"Yeah, that's... really good. God, I should thank Alpine for introducing me to you."

James positively beams at him before leaning down to give Alpine a few scratches on the top of his head. "Alpine will accept any and all forms of thanks in the form of turkey bits."

"Of course she would. What a spoiled cat you have, Mr. Barnes."

"You help in spoiling her, you know," James responds. "And, uh, you can call me Bucky."

Both of Tony's eyebrows raise up. "Bucky?"

Bucky shrugs. "S'from my middle name. Buchanan." He swallows, his adam's apple bobbing, before continuing. "I also don't want to assume, but, Tony, uh..." He looks off to the side, steeling himself, then looks back at Tony. "Do you think you'd ever be interested in goin' out? As a date?"

" _Yes_ ," Tony rushes out, setting the cup down on the counter with so much force that some of the coffee spills over the side. If this is a dream, don't wake him up now. "I've wanted to ask you too, but I was unsure. Oh my _god_ , you don't know how long I've wanted to ask you."

"How long?" Bucky questions, curious.

"Since we've met, if I'm being completely honest."

Bucky whistles. "Wow."

" _I know_."

"Well, I guess you can be sure now," Bucky says, ducking his head. "One of my other friends owns a burger joint near here, and he said that if I ever bring one of my dates there, he'll feed us for free, so, if you wanna..."

"I'm never one to turn down free food, Bucky." Tony smiles. A date. With Bucky. _God_. "We can do it Sunday, if you want. I'm free any time."

"3 P.M. sound fine?"

"More than fine."

Bucky bites his lip as another smile forms on his face. "Alpine," he says to the cat currently situated between his legs. "I can't believe you're the reason I have a boyfriend."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to hit me up on tumblr @ [hawkbucks](https://hawkbucks.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
